During well construction and other downhole operations, it is common for penetrations (e.g., perforation operations) to be necessary to open a wellbore or other cavity to the surrounding annulus and/or to open the wellbore or other cavity to a geological face or other environment.
Typically, drilling equipment or perforator systems require use of high energy force applications, mostly through the use of explosives. When utilizing mechanical drilling systems, there is a propensity to undercut, requiring added time and deployments, or to overcut, likely rendering the well feature irreparably damaged. Use of explosives has long been known to generate considerable collateral damage to the cement and formation in the vicinity of the penetrator. Near wellbore damage can result in drastic reductions in wellbore inflow of pay material, and in some instances can result in the migration of pay material or contaminants into adjacent zones, sometimes referred to as “thief zones.”
A need exists for systems and methods that are usable for generating a perforation through a casing element to eliminate excessive damage to the casing, cement, and/or the formation.
A further need exists for systems and methods that are usable for creating a penetration through a wellbore or other element having an advantageous “exit chamfer” profile, in which the systems and methods are also usable for future exiting of tool systems, broaching into the backside geology for material recovery, or injection of materials/fluids into a formation.
A need also exists for systems and methods that are capable of modulating the amount of energy applied to a structural member to affect the proper chamfer, breach depth, and formation erosion.
A need also exists for systems and methods that are able to produce a throughput in a structural member, which does not produce occlusive debris, possibly occluding the desired perforation.
A need also exists for systems and methods that are able to produce multiple penetrations in a single deployment when deployed according to the physical characteristics of the perforation zone, based on temperature, pressure, and fluid medium.
A need also exists for systems, methods, and apparatus capable of producing penetrations on multiple planes in a single deployment.
A need also exists for systems and methods of orienting perforations within wellbores and other cavities that are presented in horizontal, vertical, or diagonal composition.
A need also exists for systems and methods, capable of the above, that can be activated using multiple methods, such as electric wireline, slickline (trigger), and pressure firing, as well as existing conventional methods.
A need also exists for systems and methods that are capable of perforating target components without relying on features of the target, other than the outside diameter. This performance measure indicates that the target material thickness does not affect the quality of the perforation, enabling embodiments of the present invention to be used as a “one size fits all” operation within diameter families.
An additional need exists for a perforation system that contains oriented fuel, such that the orientation of a burn-rate can accelerate or retard the mass flow rate.
An additional need exists for a perforating system having a velocity that can be modulated by varying the fuel type and position with respect to other fuels having faster or slower reaction rates. The physical geometry of the fuel can also be modified or chosen to produce a progressive or non-progressive burn rate. Additionally, multiple fuel types can be modeled such that layered fueled can be utilized.
Embodiments of the present invention meet these needs.